Intelligent Walking Stick for Blind People Using Arduino

D. Chiranjevulu Journal of Engineering Research and Application ISSN: 2248-9622 Vol. 10, Issue 03 (Series -I) March 2020, pp 42-45 RESEARCH ARTICLE www.ijera.com OPEN ACCESS Intelligent Walking Stick for Blind People Using Arduino 1 D. Chiranjevulu, 2D.Sanjula, 3 K Pavan Kumar, 4 U Bala Murali, 5 S Santosh Kumar, 6 K Komali 1 Assistant Prof, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, BTech Student, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Sri Sivani College of Engineering, Srikakulam, AP, India Corresponding author: D. Chiranjevulu 2,3,4,5,6 ABSTRACT Nowadays the blind and impaired people are suffering a lot because there are so many struggles for blind peoples to reach their destination and also there are dangerous risks that blind persons must face. To avoid uncomfortable walking experience, we have designed a smart electronic walking stick for blind people. Our paper proposes a low-cost walking stick based on latest technology and a new implementation are made for efficient interface for blind people. Basically, the ultrasonic sensor is implemented in the walking stick for detecting the obstacles in front of the blind/impaired persons. If there are any obstacles, it will alert the blind person to avoid that obstacles and the alert in the form of voice module daily in different aspects in order to provide flexible and safe movement for the people. Using this blind stick , a person can walk more confidently. The another LDR sensor are used in the stick to identify the day and night for the blind people. The microcontroller (Arduino Uno R3) to receive the sensor signals and process them to short pulses to the Arduino pins where voice module is connected. This device will be best solution to overcome their difficulties and help them to live the better life. Keywords:Smart Stick, Arduino Uno, Ultra Sonic Sensors LDR Sensor, Buzzer(Voice Module) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------Date of Submission: 25-02-2020 Date Of Acceptance: 05-03-2020 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------weight and portable. But its range is limited due to its own size. It provides the best travel aid for the I. INTRODUCTION person. The blind person can move from one place Visually impaired persons have difficulty to another independently without the others help. to interact and feel their environment. They have The main aim of the system is to provide a best little contact with surroundings. Physical environment for the blind persons which gives a movement is a challenge for visually impaired sense of vision by providing the information about persons, because it can become tricky to distinguish their surroundings and objects around them. obstacles appearing in front of them, and they are Our proposed project first uses ultrasonic not able to move from one place to another. They sensor to detect obstacles without touching it using depend on their families for mobility and financial ultrasonic waves. On sensing obstacles the sensor support. Over the last decades, research has been passes this data to the microcontroller. The conducted for new devices to design a good and microcontroller then processes this data and reliable system for visually impaired persons to calculates if the obstacle is close enough. If the detect obstacles and warn them at danger places. obstacle is far the circuit does nothing but If the Smart walking stick is specially designed to detect obstacle is close the microcontroller sends a signal obstacles which may help the blind to move safety. to sound a buzzer. Ultrasonic sensor is used to The alarm will keep the user alert and considerably detect any obstacle in front of blind person. reduce accidents. This system presents a concept to It has Detection Distance of 2cm-450cm provide a smart electronic aid for blind people, both so whenever there is some obstacle in this range it in public and private space. The proposed system will alert the blind person. One more feature is that contains the Ultrasonic sensor, LDR, and Buzzer. it allows the blind person to detect if there is light The Stick measures the distance between the or darkness in the room. The darkness and light can objects and smart walking stick by using an be detect by using the LDR sensor. An LDR or ultrasonic sensor. When any objects or obstacles light dependent resistor is also known as photo come in range of an ultrasonic sensor then the resistor, photocell, photoconductor. It is a one type buzzer will alarm the user. The smart walking stick of resistor whose resistance varies depending on the is a simple and purely mechanical device to detect amount of light falling on its surface. the obstacles on the ground. This device is light in www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622-1003014245 42 | P a g e D. Chiranjevulu Journal of Engineering Research and Application ISSN: 2248-9622 Vol. 10, Issue 03 (Series -I) March 2020, pp 42-45 In this technology controlled world, where people strive to live independently, this project proposes an ultrasonic stick for blind people to help them gain personal independence. Since this is economical and not bulky, one can make use of it easily. II. III. www.ijera.com SYSTEM DESIGN LITERATURE SURVEY In[1], Intelligent device is represented for visually challenged people to guide them to reach their destination place safely without facing any difficulties. It consists of Raspberry Pi and PIC as the controller, Global Positioning System (GPS) along with sensors like Ultrasonic and other supportive sensors and an Android-based Application (APP). In[2], White stick with the ultrasonic sensor, IR sensor and various other equipped technologies (Arduino IC, sensors etc.) is the boon for blind people. The application of ultrasonic ranging scheme along with location tracing (GPS Module) for producing electronic walking stick with improved features for the blinds is a technological advancement. In[3], Deals with an innovative design of Intelligent White-Cane that is capable of tracking and signal receptor services. A model of smart white-cane has been designed at our end whereby its smartness has extra unique features such as Navigation system to better guide family members of blind one to be known for his location. In[4], Present a novel low-cost yet durable and accurate smart stick to assist visually impaired people while they walk in indoor/outdoor unstructured environments. There is a large group of people who have difficulties in their daily routine work due to losing their eyesight. Walking with confidence is one of them which may have different challenges in different environments. In[5], A stick guide model represented for visually impaired person to guide in their way, which consist of a Global Positioning System(GPS) and a Global System for Mobile Communication(GSM) modules along with sensors like Ultrasonic and Infrared sensor. Over the last decades, research has been conducted for new devices to design a good and reliable system for visually impaired persons to detect obstacles and warn them at danger places. There are some systems which has some deficiencies. A Navbelt was developed by Shovalet. al [6], an obstacle avoidance wearable portable computer which is only for indoor navigation. Navbelt was equipped with two modes, in the first one the system information was translated to audio in different sounds. One sound for free for travel direction and other for blocked, it was difficult for the person to differentiate the sounds. www.ijera.com Fig 1. System Architecture The usage of smart blind stick is used to help the blind people. The stick help the blind people to interact with the physical world like a normal people and they don’t need to depend on other. The above figure shows the Arduino UNO microcontroller are connected to the 9V battery, voice module, ultrasonic sensor and LDR sensor. The connection were made by using the jumper wires. The hardware requirements: Ardunio UNO (Micro Controller)  Battery(9V)  Buzzer(Voice Module)  Jumper Wires  Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04  LDR Sensor The software requirements: Arduino IDE  Programming Language: C/C++ A. Ultrasonic sensors Ultrasonic sensors are used in pair as transceivers. One device which emits sound waves is called as transmitter and other who receives echo is known as receiver. These sensors work on a principle similar to radar or sonar which detects the object with the help of echoes from sound waves. This detect the object and alarm to warn the blind people. DOI: 10.9790/9622-1003014245 43 | P a g e D. Chiranjevulu Journal of Engineering Research and Application ISSN: 2248-9622 Vol. 10, Issue 03 (Series -I) March 2020, pp 42-45 www.ijera.com close the arduino Uno sends a warning in the form of voice. It also detects and sounds that object is detected to alert the blind. If the obstacle is close the arduino uno sends a warning through voice message. Light detection is done by LDR sensor. One more feature is that it allows the blind to detect if there is light or darkness in the room. If the LDR sensors does not receive light rays it alerts the blind person using the speaker. The alert message is you are entering into dark region. In this project , Arduino is stated as the heart of the project. Fig 2. UltraSonic Sensor model B. LDR Sensor In order to detect the intensity of light or darkness, we use a sensor called an LDR (light dependent resistor). The LDR is a special type of resistor that allows higher voltages to pass through it (low resistance) whenever there is a high intensity of light, and passes a low voltage (high resistance) whenever it is dark. It is connected to the Arduino and in darkness it make alarm to help the blind to know the day and night. Fig 4. Arduino with battery V. Fig 3. LDR Sensor Model IV. WORKING PROCESS The Arduino is coded using Arduino IDE software. Based on the function of the Arduino the program was logically coded in the Arduino IDE software and checked for the errors. If there is any error it will be displayed in the message box. After removing the errors, the sketch can be compiled and run successfully. Finally, the sketch is uploaded into the Arduino controller through USB serial interface. We here propose an advanced blind stick that allows visually challenged people to navigate with ease using advanced technology. The blind stick is integrated with ultrasonic sensor along with light sensing. Our proposed project first uses ultrasonic sensors to detect obstacles ahead using ultrasonic waves. On sensing obstacles the sensor passes this data to the arduino Uno. The arduino uno then processes this data and calculates if the obstacle is close enough. If the obstacle is not that close the circuit does nothing. If the obstacle is www.ijera.com CONCLUSION Blind people face lot of difficulties while travelling from one place to another. With the intention to help the blind, their difficulties, the smart blind stick is proposed. The system consists of an LDR sensor to detect day and night and ultrasonic sensor to obstacle detection. The proposed system takes the blind person to reach the destination without any struggle in their path. The voice module were used to make sound with comment to warn them. After testing, the system proposed in this paper helps users walk in a relatively safe environment reliably, such as indoors, parks, and schools. REFERENCES: [1]. [2]. [3]. Yeong-Hwa Chang, Nilima Sahoo and Hung-Wei Lin. ―An Intelligent Walking Stick for the Visually Challenged People. In IEEE International Conference on Applied System Innovation, 2018. Nitish Ojha1, Pravin Kumar Pradhan, Prof. M.V.Patil. ―Obstacle Sensing Walking Stick for Visually Impaired. In International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), Volume: 04 Issue: 04, April 2017 Muhammad Hanan Daudpota, Anwar Ali Sahito, Amir Mahmood Soomro, Faheem DOI: 10.9790/9622-1003014245 44 | P a g e D. Chiranjevulu Journal of Engineering Research and Application ISSN: 2248-9622 Vol. 10, Issue 03 (Series -I) March 2020, pp 42-45 www.ijera.com Shafeeque Channar. ―Giving blind a smart eye: Designing and Modeling of intelligent white cane for blind people. In IEEE International Conference, 2017. [4]. Sharang Sharma, Manind Gupta, Amit Kumar, Meenakshi Tripathi, Manoj Singh Gaur. ―Multiple Distance Sensors Based Smart Stick for Visually Impaired People. In IEEE International Conference, 2017. [5]. Kunja Bihari Swain, Rakesh Kumar Patnaik, Suchandra Pal, Raja Rajeswari, Aparna Mishra and Charusmita Dash. ―Arduino based Automated STICK GUIDE for a Visually Impaired Person. In IEEE International Conference on Smart Technologies and Management for Computing, Communication, Controls, Energy and Materials (ICSTM), August 2017. [6]. Mohammad Hazzaz, et al., "Smart Walking Stick- an electronic approach to assist visually disable persons", International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research vol. 4, No. 10, 2013. [7]. Sung Jae Kang, et al." Development of an Intelligent Guide-Stick for the Blind", Proceeding of the IEEE international Conference on Robotics & Automation, 2001 [8]. Y. Kawai andF. Tomita, “A support system for visually impaired persons to understand three-dimensional visual information using acoustic interface", IEEE Conference on Pattern Recognition, Vol.3,pp.974-977,2002. [9]. J. M. Sáez, F. Escolano, and A. Peñalver, “First steps towards stereo- based 6DOF SLAM for the visually impaired,” in IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), San Diego, USA,2005. [10]. AlbertoRodriguez, et al., "Obstacle avoidance system for assisting visually impaired people", in proceeding IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium Workshop, 2012. [11]. ShrutiDambhare, et al., "Smart stick for Blind: Obstacle Detection, Artificial vision and Real-time assistance via GPS", 2nd National Conference on Information and Communication Technology (NCICT), 2011. D. Chiranjevulu, “ Intelligent Walking Stick for Blind People Using Arduino” International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA), vol.10 (03), 2020, pp 42-45. www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622-1003014245 45 | P a g e